9Bach have been making some of the most interesting and beautiful music that has come out of Wales in recent years. The band released their debut album last year and after a fairly quiet year in 2009 the band are set for live dates and recording in 2010.

(All photos featured in this article are by Dewi Glyn Jones www.dewijones.com

Where does the name 9Bach come from?
 
It's a play on words, and numbers! When you say 9 or "nine" in English, it's pronounced the same as "nain" which is Welsh for Grandmother, and of course "bach" means little in Welsh. And in German it's.......

We also like the way it looks, there's something pleasing on the eye about the 9 next to a capital B.

What inspired the band to start making music together?

The songs really. Lisa has a passion for these beautiful old Welsh folk songs, and a determination that they don't get forgotten, a lot of people play them in a very traditional folky way, which isn't really of any interest to many younger people, and in fact possibly puts them off the songs. We just try and make them a bit more interesting, and exciting, and not fall back on the standard and accepted way that most people do.

Who or what would you say were the main influences on the band’s music?

Well that's difficult, we don't really try to copy anyone, and  the music we listen to and love covers everything, again  we think the melodies to the songs leads the way, they need space, so therefore the music is quite sparse.

You can't really beat a stunning, beautiful melody, with a really solid bass and drum groove.
 
The Guardian described your music as traditional Welsh with a modern twist and ‘unexpectedly edgy’. How would you describe your music?

It's been interesting seeing different critics describe our music, and although they've been pretty different, you couldn't say they were far wrong. It's difficult to put in to words, it just sounds corny, it's all there in the music, we'll leave it to the critics.

Your music seems to switch between very traditional one moment and then more contemporary the next. Music Fix said you were more Portishead than Planxty. Do you see this continuing or do you think the band will concentrate in one genre i.e. more contemporary original material?

Never heard of Planxty, Portishead are great. There's no master plan for what happens next, just keep it interesting, maybe bring in few more different instruments. The last couple of songs we did for the album, took us in another direction, so we think there's a bit more mileage left in the folk songs, we'll stop doing them once we start repeating ourselves, or it seems we have a "formula". We've also been working on our own material, so who knows how that will turn out.
 
How do non- Welsh speaking audiences react to your music?

We go down really well with non Welsh Speaking audiences, something else drags them in, it's almost because they're not listening to the lyrics, they’re listening more intently and intensely to the songs. A common comment is that although they couldn't understand the songs, they were extremely moved by them, and felt the emotions in them, and by how they're delivered

How have you found the Welsh music scene varies between north, mid and south Wales?

We're based in the North, and up here there seems to be something for everyone, loads of scene's and scene's within scenes, and also a real throw it in the pot and see what happens kind of attitude, which is interesting.

You toured with Gruff Rhys. How was that experience? What was Gruff like to travel/work with?

That was great.
 
Are there any musicians or producers 9Bach would like to record or perform with?

Krissy Jenkins who we produced our album with in Cardiff did such a great job, but if he wasn't available, then we'd give Lee Sctratch Perry, or Andrew Wetherall a call, thinking about it they could do a co-production they would be interesting, although they'd have to split the fee.

We'd love Shaun Ryder  to do a duet with Lisa on one of our songs, with Dave Navarro on lead guitar.

What are your plans for the year ahead? Any gigs or recordings coming up?

We're doing some gigs in March in Wales and England, and hope to do a few festivals in the summer, and we'll also be recording the new album, and possibly an ep, or singles, if they still exist by then.

Discography

9Bach (2009)

Links:

http://www.myspace.com/9bach

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